alt Hacker News> A good manager is more like a transparent umbrella. They protect the team from unnecessary stress and pressure, but don’t hide reality from them.
I'm absolutely going to steal this metaphor going forward.
Being a "transparent umbrella" does require knowing the personalities of your reports, some people do get distracted when they think higher-up decisions or unhappiness are going to affect their team. Most people, however, really appreciate the transparency. It helps them feel more in control when they know what is happening around them, and when things do change they can tie it back to something that was said previously.
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That's true for a junior engineer, but the more senior engineers should be given a view into the organization's priorities and business challenges.
I recall hearing that Google had a term similar to this:
A "shit umbrella" was a manager who protected the development team from all the politics, blame, and mismanagement coming from above.
A "shit funnel" was a manager who directed all the shit coming down, directly onto the team.
Honestly, I’m not sure.
If I know what was going on transparently I am stressed. As an ordinary employee, I don’t need to know everything and therefore don’t need to worry about it.
> They protect the team from unnecessary stress and pressure, but don’t hide reality from them.
I was going to highlight this as well, but it is also one of the trickiest parts of the equation, because by definition this inevitably involves a lot of politics and social implications.
What I have learned over the years: let the overall direction, and also the overall competitive pressures, filter down through your umbrella. But shield them from the details and your specific efforts here, unless it is relevant.
Maybe even more important, though - recognize inflection points in your company and your group. How you manage during routine times and during stressful times may well be very different. If they're not, then you have a serious problem.